MLB Rumors

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper was not in the starting lineup Saturday against the Padres.

He was given the day off against left-hander Eric Stults. He is a career .226 hitter with just seven homers and 26 RBI against lefties. He is hitting .171 with two home runs and four RBI in 12 May games. He has yet to record two hits in a game this month.

The Braves announced Saturday that reliever Eric O'Flaherty has been diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow, after receiving the results of an MRI exam.

O'Flaherty was placed on the 15-day disabled list earlier in the day, and he is expected to visit with Dr. James Andrews in the next few days.

Andrews is famous for performing Tommy John surgery on torn UCLs, though the team has not confirmed that the procedure will be necessary for O'Flaherty. 

The Marlins have signed infielder Gil Valazquez to a minor-league contract Saturday, assigning him to Triple-A New Orleans, according to The Sun Sentinel. Velazquez carried a .232/.246/.250 slash line in 19 games last season for the Marlins.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals are not confident that Jaime Garcia's recurring shoulder pain can be fixed with rehab this time around. Garcia avoided surgery in the offseason for a similar issue.

Garcia was placed on the disabled list Saturday, with the same injury that sidelined him twice last season. Garcia is set to see a specialist in the next few days to determine the course of action, but he did say that the injury seems more serious this time around than it did last season. He also admitted to trying to pitch through it in his last three outings.

"There's pain. There's a lot more pain than last year," he said. "It started three starts ago. I was feeling great up to that point. Just tried to take care of it, doing little things here or there, and it went downhill. It got worse and worse. I'm very concerned. I'm very concerned."

Garcia is set to see Dr. James Andrews in the next week. 

Dodgers infielder Mark Ellis is not expected to be activated Sunday from the disabled list,  manager Don Mattingly told the Los Angeles Times.

Ellis is expected to play six innings in Double-A Saturday as part of his minor-league rehab assignment. He has been out since late April with a right quad strain.  

Reds manager Dusty Baker told the Cincinnati Enquirer Saturday that the team is pleased with the work Tony Cingrani put in over six starts, but they want him to work on some things at Triple-A Louisville.

"We talked to him," Baker said. "He did a great job for the limited experience that he had. It was a great learning experience, but he also helped us at the same time. I talked to him and so did (pitching coach Bryan Price). He knows he needs a secondary pitch."

The team optioned Cingrani to Triple-A Saturday to clear room in the rotation for Johnny Cueto, despite Cingrani having a 3.27 ERA in his six starts. But the data bears out Baker's constructive criticism, as Cingrani threw 83.6 percent of his pitches for fastballs.

The organization is not telling Cingrani which pitches to throw or how often, but they want him to learn to be successful even when his fastball isn't working, possibly by focusing on his change-up more. He threw the change-up 5.9 percent of the time in the majors.

"We want him to get comfortable with it on the sideline so he can take it to the game," Baker said. "Everyone says throw the breaking ball. Everyone doesn’t have the delivery or the hand size to throw certain pitches. So we’re going to have to come up with something else to get them off the fastball. His change-up is getting better."

The Padres optioned reliever Brad Brach to Triple-A Tucson Saturday to make room for Carlos Quentin, who returned from paternity leave.

Brach struck out 17 and walked eight and had a 4.76 ERA through 17 innings with the Padres.

Blue Jays designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion homered in the eighth inning off David Robertson Saturday in New York.

Encarnacion is tied for the American League with 12 homers. He went 1 for 3 with a walk and is batting .248. The 30-year-old Encarnacion has homered three times in his last 10 games with 10 RBI over that span.

The Yankees have signed third baseman Josh Bell to a minor-league deal, CLNS Radio reports. He went 0 for 2 with two walks in his first game with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

The White Sox released Bell on May 7 after he hit .273/.310/.345 in 58 plate appearances with Triple-A Charlotte. He owns a .195/.223/.265 line in 282 major-league plate appearances in his career.

Nationals pitcher Zach Duke will move from the bullpen to the rotation Monday against the Giants, to replace Ross Detwiler for at least one turn. The team announced the move Saturday. 

Duke has an 8.40 ERA in 15 innings out of the bullpen this season and has not started since 2011, when he had a 5.47 ERA in nine starts for the Diamondbacks.